Rzewski's commentsThis was totally unprepared and unexpected, as I guess one can hear from all the little imperfections. When we were recording the Nonesuch box ("Rzewski Plays Rzewski"), one day we had some time left over after we had done the day's work. Marc-Henri Cykiert (the producer) suggested that we might try something completely different, just for fun. I happened to have the Beethoven Sonatas with me and winged it. It struck me that Beethoven seems to quote "Bella Ciao" in the finale, so I played with that. After he said "Thanks a lot!" at the end, the telephone rang, calling me home to dinner, and that was that.These file(s) are part of the Werner Icking Music Collection.

This stained Beethoven manuscript was the property of the great French violinist Baillot, who gave it to the Paris Conservatory in 1889. The nickname "Appassionata" appears nowhere in the manuscript; instead, Beethoven apparently subtitled it as "La Passionata." There are many changes and corrections in notation throughout.